The Millenium Thief
by shadow-werewolf255
Summary: Bakura is fed some of his own medicine when a woman thief takes his Millennium Ring. Suspicious that perhaps the thief seeks all the Millennium Items, he and Marik team up to find the thief that they dub "Freesia" before all of the items are taken.
1. Freesia

[A/N: This is NOT a BakuraXMarik fanfic. I do not write yaoi. Fervent apologies to Ray, who I know will complain as soon as she reads this. Sorry, Ray. I'm not you... : P Spoiler alert: contains Yami's real name.]

"This is awful."

Marik looked away from the book he was reading. Bakura had just run in, frantic. He was digging through his backpack in apparent panic. Whatever it was, it was important.

"You'd better have a good reason for interrupting me." He growled, setting down the novel.

"The Millennium Ring is gone!" He said breathlessly. "I took it off when I went down to the pool, but when I got back the locker was open and it was gone!"

Marik jumped up, suddenly understanding the urgency of the situation. One of the Millennium items being stolen was downright dangerous…

"Did you lock the locker before you went swimming?" Marik asked, trying to appear calm.

"Of course I did!" He answered. "I made sure of it. Whoever did it had to not only get past the lock, but past the traps I set in the locker just in case. It's a professional."

"Atem?" Marik asked.

"No." Bakura said, looking once again for the ring. "The sheltered palace brat couldn't do that."

"Yugi or Tristan or Joey?"

Bakura glared at him. "I said Atem could never get past it. If he can't, what makes you think that they could?"

"Good point." Marik admitted. "It's obviously someone we don't know then."

"That much is obvious. Whoever it is, we have to find out." He growled. "The only other thing that I could think of as a clue would be that I smelled freesia when I walked into the change room."

"Freesia?" asked Marik. "Isn't that a flower?"

"Yes. Freesia perfume in a men's washroom? The thief knew exactly what they were looking for and they got it without ever being seen. The thief is a woman."


	2. Nearsighted

[A/N: Not MarikXBakura. Just reminding you. I'll have all of you know that, as I predicted, Ray complained about that (although I didn't expect her to do so before she'd even read the thing). Good news is that I'm not in the proverbial doghouse yet. I am well aware that Marik never went to Domino High, but then again, neither did the other characters really… Too many card games…]

"What's up with you two?"

Yugi looked down at Marik and Bakura, who seemed to have been up all night. Both looked like they could use a significant dose of caffeine to revive them. Marik seemed barely conscious and Bakura had his textbook open upside-down and was staring blankly at it. They had been up all night trying to find any clue as to who'd stolen the Millennium Ring and it had taken its toll.

Neither really reacted to Yugi's question, so he shrugged and moved to his seat. Marik shook himself and turned to Bakura.

"It just occurred to me that we may have a problem. Whoever took the ring could be after the other items." He said. "The ring can be used to detect the other items."

Bakura slumped in his chair. "They knew exactly what they were doing, didn't they?"

"Yeah." Admitted Marik. "I have my rod with me just in case. It's in my backpack."

The teacher walked in, sighing as Joey ran out, closely followed by Yugi, Tristan and Téa. They were probably off on yet another adventure involving trading-card-wielding villains. No one could really remember the last time that any of them had ever attended a full class.

"Well, everyone." The teacher said, rolling his eyes. "It seems that we have a new student. Why don't you come up and introduce yourself, Miss Bari?"

"Bari?" Bakura asked Marik. "That sounds foreign."

They both turned in their seats to see the new girl, who they had not seen walk in. She did not yet have a school uniform and was dressed in a tight black t-shirt, dark blue jeans and leather jacket.

"She would really stand out in a crowd, wouldn't she?" asked Marik. "She's about as foreign as is possible to be."

Bakura nodded in agreement. She had pale golden hair that fell just above her waist and skin that had only a bit of colour to attest that she still had blood running through her veins. It was her eyes though that really caught one's attention. They were a bright sky-blue and seemed to be seeing something that no one else could.

"My name is Shay Bari and I have just moved here from the South Pacific." She said simply. "I have come here to complete my education and I am thankful to be here."

She sat down, seemingly unaware that every eye in the class was on her.

"She does seem to have a bit of an accent, doesn't she?" Marik asked Bakura, taking his eyes away from this strange new arrival. Bakura kept staring.

"There's something weird about her." He said, somewhat distractedly. "Something about her eyes…"

"Her eyes?" asked Marik, looking again. "I'll admit, she's kinda cute, but she isn't really your type."

Bakura shook his head. "That isn't what I mean. She looks like she isn't actually seeing anything when she looks around. Almost like she's nearsighted. I wonder why she isn't wearing glasses or something."

Marik tried to see what Bakura was looking at without staring, but this unfortunately seemed to catch her attention. She looked him in the eye, though what Bakura said was true. She didn't seem to be seeing anything, only looking.

"I see what you mean." He whispered. "It's definitely unusual."

"I wonder if she knows anything about the theft." Bakura whispered in response. "We should check into a connection. Maybe she knows something about Freesia."

Marik gave him a questioning look, which he met with a roll of his eyes.

"It's what I've taken to calling the thief. It's pretty much the only clue we've had so far."

"Whatever the case, we need to warn the other holders of Millennium Items. I have a bad feeling about the thief…" Marik said as Bakura turned once again towards Shay, who was still watching them. "And about that girl."


	3. Nightmare

[A/N If you're concerned about me adding characters (not directed at Eggy because you were so nice about it ^^ thank you for the _Stop the Pairing War _post, which I have pasted into my profile if anyone else has never read it), then allow me to put it this way: at least the characters I added were (for the most part) bad guys. 1) New bad guys are added in the YuGiOh movies, aren't they? 2) The ratio of original to new characters is still in favour of the originals. 3) Technically, this is an X-over of YuGiOh and The Flight of the Dragon [my story] which I cannot post because it isn't a fanfic [according to site rules] 4) I worked really hard on this. I put in lots of effort when I could've been doing something… dare I say it…? Productive... 5) Shay should've been a YuGiOh character. I can only think of like three female YuGiOh characters, one of which is Cecilia, and she wasn't even really in it.]

As night fell on the outskirts of Domino City, the thief was staring out of the miniscule window of her bedroom. There wasn't really much else to do, other than to examine the Millennium Ring, which she kept hidden among her few belongings, and she'd already done that.

The sound of the door unlocking caused her to turn from her small view. A man stood there, and behind him was a younger man about her age, if not a little older.

"I see that you did as I told you," he observed, his eyes catching a glint of gold. "Well done. You will be allowed to continue, so long as you deliver such good results. I am impressed. How did your surveillance go?"

She lowered her face slightly as she answered. "It went well. The one called Marik is carrying the Millennium Rod with him now, so getting that one will be all the more difficult." She looked him in the face. "If it is alright with you, I am going to change targets for know from the Rod to the Puzzle before they have a chance to warn its keeper. I will leave tonight."

"Very well. What are Marik and Bakura currently doing?" he asked, his eyes slowly moving towards the Ring in an almost magnetic fashion.

"They are going to investigate their new classmate, Shay Bari." She answered, again lowering her eyes.

"Shay Bari?" the man inquired, quite shocked. "Now there's a name that I have not heard in a while. Let us hope that the investigation is not too deep. If they find anything, it may lead them to us."

"Yes, sir." She agreed. "May I ask something of you?"

"You may ask." He answered simply.

"Can you get me some more freesia blossom? I think that I may have a plan to get the Millennium Rod, but it may take time. Freesia is the only ingredient that I lack."

"As you wish." He said, satisfied. "I will leave you, then."

"If it alright with you, father, may I be with her for a moment?"

The man smiled as his son walked foreword. "Do what you will."

As soon as the older man had left, the woman walked towards the younger man and let herself slip into his arms. He held her firmly and ran his fingers over the smooth skin of her cheeks, feeling tears.

"I cannot do it." She choked. "I do not want to take any more of the Items for him."

He looked at her with a serious, yet sad expression on his face. "My father has told me that I am to hit you if you should speak like that."

"Then hit me." She sobbed. "Please get me out of this job somehow."

"You know that I cannot do that." He said, "If I could, then I would have done so."

She nodded and pulled a small pink bottle from her pocket. She opened it and smelled the contents. The man gave her a sideways look.

"You are not planning to use that, are you?"

She nodded. "Only until I am able to obtain the Millennium Rod." She said, taking his hand in hers. "Do not worry about it. I will not allow anything to separate us."

He smiled. "I will not either. As soon as we are done this job, we will leave together. You will never have to do another job for my father again."

"What does he want with the Items?" she asked, wiping away the tears.

"They would fetch a nice price on the black market, no?"

"That is true." She admitted, closing her eyes. "They really are quite pretty to look at."

"Not as pretty as some things." He whispered. "You are a greater treasure than all of the Millennium Items put together."

She had already fallen asleep, he realized. He looked down at her vulnerable body and with a deep sadness, he laid her down gently onto the thin mat that served as her bed and covered her with her worn-out bed sheet.

"One day, you will have better than this." He whispered.

He left her there to rest, knowing that she would only get a few hours of sleep before she set out into her own personal nightmare to take the second of the Millennium Items.


	4. Indicator

[A/N My apologies for the wait, I have limited computer access. This week (due to Eggy's extensive fanfiction vocabulary) I have been learning all kinds of new fanfiction terms. I now know what a Mary-Sue character is (and maybe you were right about that one, Eggy :P) and putting it nicely, I have a whole new perspective on citrus fruits… Oh, and the best news is that RAY IS GONNA READ MY FANFIC!!! FINALLY!!! ^^]

"The Puzzle's been stolen."

Yugi had not skipped class for the first time in quite a while. This did not mean that he was paying attention at all. The teacher had long given up on getting them to listen to him and had handed out the chem. lab explanation and equipment and was sitting at his desk, reading with a first-aid kit open and within arm's reach.

"Hey, Yug." Joey said, completely oblivious to the nature of the conversation. "What colour is it supposed to turn?"

"Green." Bakura answered. "If it's yellow, then you need to add more sodium hydroxide. If it's blue, then you've added too much and you'll need to start over."

Marik took a good look at Joey's flask. "Yours is red. How did that happen?"

Hearing this, all eyes shot towards Joey's table. Everyone scrambled to get as far away as possible from the flask as possible, all too familiar with Joey's previous lab mishaps. The teacher even went so far as to hide under his desk. The new girl, however, moved towards the mixture.

"Do you want to get yourself killed?" asked Bakura. "It'll explode at any minute!"

"I doubt it." She said, looking at a miniscule bottle near Joey's flask. "He just added the wrong indicator. Bromothymol blue, which was what we were supposed to use, turns blue when the pH exceeds 7.6. Joey used Phenol red, which turns red when the pH exceeds 8."

Blank stares came from all sides of the room.

"In other words, it is perfectly safe, though Joey will need to start over." She turned to Joey. "You added too much sodium hydroxide. If you wish, I can help you."

Dumbstruck, Joey nodded and followed her back to her seat. Not surprisingly, her flask contained a bright green liquid.

"There is something up with that girl." Bakura growled, almost smashing his flask in frustration as the mixture turned blue.

Marik attempted to change the subject. "When was your Puzzle taken, Yugi?"

Yugi shrugged. "While I was sleeping. I don't understand it. My window and door were both locked and I was wearing it. Whoever took it had to get into my room and get it off my neck."

"See, Marik!" Bakura growled. "It is a professional."

Yugi looked confused. "You know something about this thief?"

Bakura undid his school jacket and showing Yugi that he was not wearing the Ring.

"Did you smell anything when you woke up and saw it was gone?" Marik asked.

"Yeah, I smelled flowers. I figured that grandpa had febreezed my room while I was sleeping. So that was the thief?"

"As far as we know." Sighed Marik. "We call her 'Freesia'."

"Did she take the chain?" asked Bakura. "You said she took the puzzle, but did she take the chain it was on?"

"No." he said, reaching into his bag and pulling out the chain. "It was cut."

Bakura and Marik examined the chain. The cut was amazingly clean and seamless, almost as though it was meant to be there.

"I have no way of explaining this." Bakura said, a look of confusion on his face.

"We really are dealing with a professional." Sighed Marik. "She's stumped the Thief King."

Bakura's mood only got worse from that point on. His mixture once again turned blue, and this time, he actually did smash it, cutting himself on the broken glass. To make things even worse, it was Shay that was charged with cleaning the wound, which frustrated Bakura immensely, since he was still annoyed that she'd finished the lab seamlessly.

"Is he always this disagreeable?" she asked Marik as Bakura stormed away.

"Only when he's been beaten." He said, sighing. "I'm sorry about that."

"No worries at all." She answered, smiling sweetly. "I think it's cute."

"You think it's what now?"

Marik looked at her incredulously. Never had he ever heard that word used by anyone to describe Bakura, much less a beautiful girl.

"Cute." She repeated, batting her eyes. "I know you men don't like that word, but it is true."

She walked back to her seat, rebuking Joey for adding too much hydrochloric acid. Every few minutes, Marik noticed her sneaking a peak at Bakura. This could not be happening.

"What's up with you, Marik?" asked Yugi, who'd managed to turn his liquid green.

"Nothing, I hope." Sighed Marik, "But we'll see."


	5. Water

[A/N I am beginning to wonder how manga authors do it. I know that I have no specific deadline to finish these chapters, but I seem to be making them for myself. I cannot believe that I have spent nearly every bit of spare time I have working on this fanfic. I've never worked this hard on any fanfic, but then again, most of the time, the only one I show my fanfics to is Ray (RAY and KATANA). Thank yous to element-girl5 and (as usual) scrambled-eggs-at-midnight for reviewing, and to RAY and KATANA for being my fanfiction guinea pig, so to speak. ^^ And an EXTRA thank you for scrambled-eggs-at-midnight for Beta reading this chapter because my grammar are not so well sometimes. :P]

Much to Marik's annoyance (and to Bakura's for a completely different reason) Shay seemed to have somehow gotten into Yugi's group of friends. She and Téa had together formed the most formidable female duo in the school. Yugi loved talking with her about the games that they had in the South Pacific. (He was the Game King after all.) Joey mostly just needed her help with school, and Tristan had no real reason not to like her.

The problem (as far as Marik was concerned) was not that she was friends with them— the problem was that Yugi's group so often ended up near Marik and Bakura in classes. Shay herself had taken a liking to a seat near to Bakura.

"What's that?" she asked during their English language class.

Bakura hurriedly hid the scrap of paper that he'd absent-mindedly been doodling on. Without realizing what he was doing, he'd drawn the Millennium Ring and Shay had noticed.

"It's nothing," he said unconvincingly. "Just a drawing of an artifact I once saw."

She smiled. "Was it Egyptian? I once saw some things like it when I was younger. An Egyptian visitor showed them to me. I think his name was Shadi or something like that."

"You knew Shadi?" Bakura blurted without thinking.

"Yes," she said. "I met him at the sla—" she hesitated. "At the market."

Bakura wondered if he should ask what she had been about to say, but he figured that if she had corrected herself, she would likely not want to tell him.

"It has the same symbol on it," Shay said, pointing at the eye design in the middle of the golden ring. "He had a balance, though… and a giant key…."

So she had seen two of the Millennium Items. Shadi was known to appear at random to people, usually to the owners of the Millennium Items, with very few exceptions.

"Did you ever own anything like it?" Bakura asked, only mildly suspicious that she could've owned one at some point.

"My father did," Shay admitted. "He left it to me when he died, but I traded it away to Shadi when I was six, in exchange for the money I needed to come here. I did not leave my home until recently, though. I had to care for my mother."

"Is she…?"

"No," Shay answered quickly, understanding his question. "My brother is taking care of her now."

"Oh," Bakura said, embarrassed. "So what did your father's artifact look like?"

She pointed at the paper he had hidden away. "Like your drawing. Have you seen it too?"

Bakura's body froze. Had this girl really been the previous owner of the Millennium Ring? The thought of this being true was hard to comprehend.

"You look pale," Shay observed. "Take my water. I didn't drink any."

He nodded and took a gulp out of the water bottle. It tasted strangely sweet and he wondered if she'd added sugar or something to it. It tasted wonderful, actually. He drank more and more until the bottle was empty. Why was he so thirsty all of a sudden?

"You must've liked that," Shay observed. "I've never seen anyone drink that fast."

The bell signifying the end of class rang, but Bakura didn't move.

"Is something wrong, Bakura?"

He stood up, stumbling slightly. His head was spinning wildly and he could not get it to stop. Something _was_ wrong, but he could not figure it out.

"Bakura! Are you okay?"

Marik's voice pounded in his head. He fell and was caught at the last moment in thin, bony arms. Marik? What was going on?

The water! Something had been done to the water.

Before he lost consciousness, Bakura thought he heard Shay's voice.

"Sleep well, Bakura."


	6. Shiver

[A/N I've been so busy lately and I'm still really tired. I wish I could've done some writing over Easter, but that never happened. Happy birthday to Ray (RAY and KATANA). By the time you read this, your birthday will be long over. Lol.]

"Hey, Bakura! Are you all right?"

Marik's voice brought Bakura out of his state of unconsciousness. His eyes opened slightly and he caught sight of Marik standing over him, a look of concern spreading on his face.

"You were out for a good hour," Marik explained. "Shay and I carried you over to the nurse's office. You aren't exactly as light as you twiggy frame may suggest."

"You were dehydrated," a new voice said.

Bakura turned and saw Shay standing off to the side, sitting on the hospital bed next to his. Bakura felt a weird chill go down his spine when he looked at her. He felt that there was something different about her that he couldn't quite put his finger on.

"Do you remember at all what happened?" she asked.

Bakura hesitated, trying to recall what had happened. "The last thing I remember is talking to you about the…" He hesitated, looking to see if anyone was around, then turned to Marik. "She was the owner of the Ring just before my dad bought it and gave it to me."

He thought he saw the corner of her mouth twitch at this.

"You own it now?" she asked. "The Egyptian dream catcher thing?"

"I did before it got stolen," he said, wondering at the back of his mind why on Earth he was being so open with her. "I need to find it. It's very important."

She nodded. "I can understand that. It was rather pretty."

"It has nothing to do with its appearance," Marik sighed irritably. "It has to do with the fact that it is a powerful Egyptian artifact and that it is part of a set. Two of this set have been stolen as of yet, and there will probably be more thefts."

"How many of these rings are there?" she asked, seemingly mystified by the concept of the Millennium Items.

"They aren't all rings." Bakura explained. "They are all different and have different owners. The Egyptian you met, Shadi, has two. He also apparently delivered the Ring to the market after he bought it from you, where my father bought it for me."

She bit her lip and shivered slightly.

"That ring always creeped me out," she said. "I always got a weird chill whenever it was near me. The only other time I felt that way was…."

She hesitated, looking at Marik, and then lowered her eyes.

"When else did you feel it?" Marik asked, anger seeping into his forcedly calm voice.

"Whenever I.…" She seemed to be fighting an inner battle. "Whenever I walk past you, Marik."

Bakura's eyes went wide for a moment, but he hid his expression quickly. If this information was significant, Bakura could not see how. He looked to Marik for an explanation, but was disappointed when Marik conceded nothing. His face was completely straight.

"Well, we should leave now. The nurse will be back soon to check up on you," Shay said. "We should get to class, Marik."

"Yes, we should," he said in a tone of voice that tried so desperately to mask emotion, but Bakura could still sense something there. It was almost as though speaking with her was causing him immense pain.

They got up to leave, but just as she got to the door, Shay turned back.

"See you soon, Bakura."

When she was gone, Bakura sat up in the bed and stretched. A piece of paper fell from the blanket onto the floor. He looked at it for a moment and then picked it up, unfolding it.

It was a phone number.


	7. Paralyze

[A/N So, I changed this plot point a bit since I originally thought of it. Originally, Freesia went to Seto's to get Ishizu's necklace, but then I realized that somehow I'd convinced myself that Ishizu and Seto were brother and sister. While beating myself about the head, wondering why I could have ever been delusional enough to think that, I figured out that it was because I'd been reading so many trustshipping fics that I now automatically associate Seto with Ishizu, and vice-versa; somehow I added "sibling" in there. I blame it on lack of sleep. PLEASE review this fic. PLEASE!!!]

Freesia looked upon the Kaiba Mansion in awe. Not only had she never seen so large of a building in her life, but it was decorated extravagantly for the release of KaibaCorps's newest duel system. Freesia had never been very interested in card games, but she knew that if she wanted the Millennium eye, this would be the opportune moment to get it.

She had heard rumors that the eye had been given to Seto Kaiba after a mysterious duellist stole it from Maximillion Pegasus. These, of course, were only rumors, but many claimed to have caught sight of it in Kaiba's mansion in a thick glass case, guarded and armed with one of the most advanced security systems to date. The thought of the challenge both enticed Freesia and filled her with remorse.

She caught sight of herself in a puddle left by the previous night's rainfall. Her hair was tied back into a tight knot, stuck with so many bobby pins that she kept her neck straight for fear of them jabbing into her sensitive flesh. She wore a pale green silk dress that almost exactly matched her eyes and that seemed determined to choke every bit of air out of her lungs. All in all, the perfect disguise.

She made her way to the front gate, which was guarded by two burly men that would not have looked out of place on the set of any given spy movie. She approached them and bowed.

"Hello. I am the representative from Gananji Industries. I apologize for my tardiness."

The first guard pulled out a list and searched it while the second looked her in the eye, as if expecting some sort of trick. Freesia was used to this sort of thing and did not mind the suspicious glance at all.

"May I see your invitation?" the first guard asked, seeming to have found the company name on the list.

She pulled an envelope out of the sash of her dress. It was scarlet and bore KaibaCorps' logo in gold. The guard seemed satisfied by this and stepped aside to let her pass.

"Thank you, sirs," she said as she passed them, leaving a trail of flower-scented perfume in her wake.

The party was in full swing when Freesia entered the courtyard, which was lit by thousands of white lights. Not wanting to draw attention to herself, she withdrew to the least crowded place she could see, which happened to be the fountain. The only other people there were an elegant old couple and a younger gentleman, who seemed to be deep in discussion about investments and other corporate matters.

She closed her eyes, trying to sense the power of the eye. It was not far away, but was clearly in the house itself and not in the courtyard. She opened her eyes again, disappointed, and was startled when she was confronted with the pale blue eyes of Seto Kaiba himself.

So great was her surprise that she fell backwards into the fountain, creating an impressive splash. When she recovered from shock, she realized that she was soaking wet and that the shallow pool was not quite as shallow as she'd once thought.

"Is my party so boring that you felt the need to doze off?" Kaiba asked, his eyes still glaring down at her.

Freesia's face grew hot with both anger and embarrassment. "Is it so wrong to close one's eyes while enjoying the night air?" she growled "Now, why don't you be a gentleman and help me out of here?"

Freesia silently rebuked herself as Kaiba helped pull her out. Her plan was ruined. There was no way that she would be able to get the eye now. Experienced or not, she couldn't sneak through the house soaking wet.

"Here, come with me and we'll get you dried up," he said, apparently annoyed by the inconvenience. "I'll have one of the maids take care of you."

She could not believe her luck. This was the perfect chance for her to get the eye. She followed him to the house and was subsequently swept away by one of Kaiba's maids, a fussy young woman with dark hair and high pencilled eyebrows that reminded Freesia of a China doll.

"Let's get you cleaned up, miss," she said, handing Freesia a towel and turning to grab another from a nearby shelf. As soon as she had grabbed it, she turned back to Freesia, only to receive a face full of powder. She stood there, confused for a while, and then collapsed into Freesia's waiting arms.

Knowing that the poppy sleep powder that she'd made would only last around an hour, Freesia set out down the adjacent hallway, periodically stopping to feel the energy of the eye. She knew she was getting closer.

When she reached a door that clearly emanated raw power, she stopped. The door, as she expected, was locked, but that had never stopped her before. Using one of the oldest tricks in the book, Freesia pulled a bobby pin from her hair and inserted it into the lock. After working it for a few painful moments, she got it unlocked. She pressed her ear to the door to make sure no one was on the other side, then opened it slowly.

The eye was indeed inside a glass case, but there was not a guard to be seen. This did not bother her in the slightest, since she knew that the two guards of the eye were in fact standing in front of the gate. Freesia made her way slowly to the glass case, and was about to open it when she heard a noise behind her.

"Not who I expected, but you'll have to do, won't you?"

Freesia smiled, knowing the voice of the owner of the Millennium Rod.

"Who were you expecting?" she asked, "The foreign girl?"

Marik stepped forward, looking uncomfortable in a tux. "Yes. I did expect Shay to be here in your place, but I suspect her no less. Even more, actually, seeing as you seem to know her."

"You think she has something to do with this?" Freesia asked, smirking. "You may be right, but there is something bigger going on here. Something you will never be able to understand."

She reached into her sash and pulled out a vial filled with grey-blue powder. "Do you recognize it?" she asked, uncorking it.

"No," he admitted, tensing slightly.

Freesia grinned maliciously. "Catch!"

Instinctively, he dodged the flying vial, but was hit full-on with its contents. He choked on it, but remained standing, running at Freesia with the intention to hit her with all the strength he could muster. She did not dodge, but took the full force of the blow in the gut. Her smile faded as she fell to the ground, looking him in the eye.

"My own... little concoction... Paralysis powder..." she gasped. "I... apologize…."

As she said it, Marik felt his muscles seize up and he collapsed, not two feet away from her, unable to move.

Freesia pulled herself to her feet and lifted the glass from the eye, noting that it was much heavier than she expected. She then returned to Marik's side and reached into his bag, which he'd had with him all the time. She withdrew from it the Millennium Rod, feeling its energy wash over her.

"I am not against you, Marik Ishtar."

Her final words echoed in his mind as she left him lying there with no rod and no clue as to who she really was.

* * *

Lying back on his bed, Bakura tried to piece together what had just happened. Why had he felt so strangely about Shay earlier? It was as though his body was responding to her very presence now. Every time he had looked at her that day, he had felt a jolt. It was not uncomfortable or painful, but more like a pleasant shiver. He had no idea as to what it might mean.

The phone rang on his bedside table and he grabbed it, recognizing the number on caller ID.

"What is it, Shay?" he asked.

"It's Marik," she answered, seemingly out of breath. Her voice triggered the chill that he'd been feeling all day. "Seto Kaiba's party... something happened..."

"Calm down," Bakura said reassuringly, though his adrenaline levels had peaked. Something was clearly wrong. "Tell me what's happened."

"I was at the party... and all of a sudden there was... a huge commotion," Shay said, beginning to cry. "There were police and an ambulance and..." she burst into sobs and seemed unable to continue.

"Shay, calm down please. What happened at the party?"

"It's Marik…" she repeated. "He's been attacked!"


	8. Fake

[A/N: The long wait is over! I apologize for my lack of presence recently on fanfiction, but that is mostly due to a busy summer and even busier school year. It's really quite funny how I looked back at the previous chapter and noticed something truly odd about something Freesia notices at the party… Props to anyone who can figure it out before I post the next chapter! ^^ Remember to review (I like comments) and tell me what you think of Shay in my poll! (On my profile page.)]

It was a few days before Bakura was able to visit Marik at the hospital. It was even longer for Shay, who had gone through quite an ordeal with the police, seeing as she had been at the party where Marik was attacked. Also, because she knew Marik, she had been targeted as a suspect. Fortunately for her, as soon as Marik had regained consciousness and had been interrogated, he cleared her name.

"So Seto has not reported the theft of the Millennium Eye?" Shay asked, looking out the window, her eyes as unfocused as usual. "That's interesting."

"No, he hasn't," answered Marik, sitting up straighter in his hospital bed. "And I haven't reported the theft of my Millennium Rod, either. Reporting it would just make everything more complicated, not to mention dangerous."

"How so?" Shay asked, turning away from the window.

Bakura jumped in. "Those items are powerful. Imagine if the police were to get involved."

Shay seemed thoughtful for a moment, then figured it out. "You guys would never be able to cover that up. It would be a threat to the secret of the Millennium Items…."

"Yes," Marik agreed. "It's dangerous enough with the few people who do know about them."

Shay toyed with her hair for a moment, then looked directly at Bakura. He felt a shiver again. "How many are left now? It can't be many."

"Why do you want to know?" asked Marik, his eyes narrowing suddenly.

"I'm curious, that's all," she answered, tensing slightly.

"Bakura, grab her!" Marik yelled suddenly. "That isn't Shay!"

Bakura hesitated for a moment, which gave Shay- or the fake Shay- sufficient opportunity to kick him square in the chest. Marik tried to jump out of his bed to assist Bakura, but his legs collapsed under him and he hit the ground with a loud thump.

"Is everything okay in…?"

A nurse had heard the noise and had come to inspect. What she saw was Bakura clutching his chest in pain and shock, Marik on the floor, and the convincingly fake Shay in a stance that even a complete idiot would recognize as one of combat.

The nurse stood there in shock, but then seemed to remember the emergency button by Marik's bed. But before she could reach it, fake Shay pulled out a vial of powder, which she threw in the nurse's face. The nurse panicked, trying to dodge the cloud of dust, but couldn't and collapsed suddenly.

"This is a problem," Fake Shay said, her voice changing suddenly, losing the accent she had had not moments before. "We need to leave immediately."

Bakura seemed to recover from his shock, and kicked out at her. To his surprise, she did not move to block, but took the blow full-force. She fell back into a chair.

"Do you really think it wise to make so much noise?" she asked. "If we are to attempt to escape, we must not draw attention to ourselves."

"Escape?" asked Marik. "You're the one assaulting Bakura!"

She smiled sadly. "Had I not, he might have moved to attack me. I might have been arrested if you had restrained me and turned me in. I could not afford that. You are in danger."

"What kind of danger?" growled Bakura.

"The true thief is here. The one who stole your ring, Bakura."

"And my rod?" asked Marik.

She shifted awkwardly. "No. That was me. Had I not taken the eye and the rod, she would have. She also had a partner who is not as forgiving as I and would not have simply used paralysis as a means of getting what he wanted." She reached into her bag and pulled out the Millennium Rod. "It is safe to return it now. It will be better off in your hands than mine."

She gave the rod to Marik, who took it hesitantly. She then reached into her bag and pulled out the Millennium Eye, which she gave to Bakura. Immediately, the chill he had felt looking at her disappeared.

"So that was the Millennium Items I was sensing whenever I felt that chill around you." He said before he could stop himself.

"Yes and no," she answered. "But I will explain that when we are out of here."

Bakura grabbed her shoulder. "Why do we need to leave, and who are you?"

She smiled awkwardly. "My name is Kari'na, servant of Ata'ki Ganan'ji. I have come to warn you that you have become a threat to Master Ganan'ji. You are in danger."


	9. Lockdown

[A/N Okay, so apparently I was tired and what I thought was an error actually wasn't, but my good buddy element_girl5 did notice a real error. After Freesia falls into the fountain, she grumbles that she won't be able to sneak around in wet clothes, but if you read on... she does exactly that. Thanks, Element. ^^' I'll try to keep these weird typos to a minimum. Let's all just pretend that she took the time to dry herself off with the towel that the maid gave her. By the way, I am finally an official beta-reader if you are looking for one! (Shameless plug). Enjoy chapter nine!]

"I can't believe we're actually doing this," growled Marik, trying to adjust to a better position in the wheelchair. He was still unable to walk, and this fact only served to annoy him.

"There was no choice, _atan_," Kari'na said. She had been using that word quite a bit. "She is nearby. I can sense the items she carries."

"I don't sense anything," Bakura said as he pushed Marik along the hallway. "And why do you look so much like Shay, anyways?"

Kari'na motioned for them to move into one of the hospital's supply rooms, which was miraculously empty. She pulled the door closed and ran her hand through her hair – or at least, that was what they initially thought she was doing until she pulled her hair right off. Of course, it wasn't hair at all, but a startlingly convincing wig. She then proceeded to remove her heavy jacket, coloured contacts, heeled boots and the pins that held her hair tight to her head.

Kari'na no longer resembled Shay in the slightest. She was much shorter, for one thing. She had green eyes, rather than blue, and her hair was shorter and black rather than blonde. Marik immediately recognized her as the one who had attacked him.

"So let me get this straight," Bakura said as they exited the closet quietly, "You tried to protect the items by stealing them, but someone has caught onto you and now we're trying to escape without drawing attention to ourselves?"

"That pretty much covers it, _atan_," Kari'na said, smiling.

Marik gave her a dirty look. "How do we know you aren't lying? You haven't even told us who's chasing us."

"I thought that it would be obvious, _atan_," Kari'na answered.

"Shay?"

Kari'na smiled sadly. "Yes. And that's a name that I haven't heard in a long time. She doesn't typically use her English name, even while on assignment."

"I knew there was something weird about her," Marik growled.

"Hang on," Bakura interrupted. "You said something else about someone else. Ganan or something like that."

"Master Ganan'ji?" Kari'na asked, biting her lip. "Yes. He is our master. He would certainly not be happy if he knew that I was disobeying him."

Bakura and Marik exchanged glances. "Your master?" asked Marik.

"Yes," Kari'na sighed. "He—"

Just then, she was interrupted by the hospital loudspeaker.

"ATTENTION TO ALL PATRONS: THIS IS A LOCKDOWN. PLEASE PROCEED TO THE NEAREST ROOM AND ENSURE THAT ALL DOORS ARE LOCKED AND THAT ALL AT-RISK PATIENTS ARE BROUGHT INSIDE. PLEASE DO NOT EXIT THE BUILDING FOR ANY REASON. THIS IS NOT A DRILL."

"Well, this is problematic," said Kari'na. "Come on, Bakura. We've got to get to an exit before they're all locked."

Before Bakura had a chance to question her logic, Kari'na took off down the hall towards the main doors, dodging people and equipment as she went. Bakura rolled his eyes and followed behind her, Marik's wheelchair slowly gathering momentum with each footfall until he couldn't stop if he wanted.

"Hey! Get in here!" yelled a nurse from a doorway as they passed. They ignored her.

Kari'na stopped suddenly as they turned the corner. The momentum of the wheelchair carried Bakura forward as he tried to stop, causing him to crash into Kari'na. The three of them fell, sprawled out on the ground.

A hand reached down to help them up. It belonged to an old man with a particularly severe expression. His face was incredibly angular and rough, with a grey beard that did not at all soften his features. He grabbed Kari'na by the wrist and pulled her roughly to her feet.

"You have disappointed me again, Kari'na," he growled in a gruff voice.

It only took Marik and Bakura a minute to figure out who this man must be.

"Ganan'ji."


	10. Bathroom

[And now, what you've all been waiting for… Well, I'm back from my drop off the face of the Earth (special thanks to the firefighters and face-of-the-Earth-drop response team for rescuing me.) A lot has changed since I last updated, including this entire chapter (dumb continuity… why can't you just leave me alone to my random plot shifts and personality changes?) Oh well. We're coming closer to the end of this fic, and with any luck, Ray will not have amassed an army of OC-despising super-humans to destroy my fic… or my laptop…whichever is easier for them, I suppose… ^^' Enjoy.]

"You are all in trouble now," Ganan'ji hissed. "I will have your items, and that is a fact."

"Is it now?" Marik said, smirking, still on the floor near his wheelchair after falling with Bakura and Kari'na. "I think not."

Marik raised the Millennium Rod, and instantly, Ganan'ji froze.

"Someone's coming," Kari'na whispered fearfully to Bakura. "Someone with a Millennium Item."

"Shay?" he asked. Kari'na nodded.

"We have more important things to worry about," Marik said, still holding Ganan'ji still. "The announcement said that the lockdown was not a drill. The police will be here at any moment. We need to find somewhere big enough to hide all of us so that we don't look suspicious."

Bakura pointed to a bathroom with\ its door propped open. "There! The door should automatically lock behind us. I doubt there's anyone in it if the door's open."

Marik made a sour face.

"What is it now, Marik?" Bakura asked.

"It's a women's washroom," Marik answered.

Bakura rolled his eyes. "Does it really matter at this point?"

Marik hesitated. "No, I guess not."

They ducked into the washroom, Marik keeping a close eye on Ganan'ji. Kari'na locked the door behind them, though she looked uncomfortable.

"What is it?" asked Bakura.

"She's close. I can sense the items she carries. Stay on your guard."

Marik nodded and shivered. "I feel it too."

Kari'na shook her head. "No, you feel me."

Marik and Bakura gave her a confused look. Ganan'ji smirked, though it was a forced smirk, as he was still under Marik's control.

"She cannot use the items," Ganan'ji explained/. "Her body reflects their energy. She can feel that reflection, and depending on their proximity, that feeling gets more intense. The reflection of their energy can also be felt by those near her, as you already know, Bakura."

Kari'na nodded, flinching slightly. "The Millennium Rod's proximity is making it difficult to discern how far away Shay is, but she's close.

Ganan'ji laughed. "Don't worry; she'll be here soon enough."

Kari'na closed her eyes. "I think she's two floors down, but I can't be sure." She pulled out a vial, which Marik immediately recognized. She threw a pinch in Ganan'ji's face, and he immediately went limp.

"Now you can release your hold on him," she told Marik. "And then I will be able to sense her properly."

Marik complied, and she closed her eyes again.

"How do we know that dust will keep him out long enough?" Bakura asked. Kari'na pointed at Marik, her eyes still closed. Bakura took one look at Marik, still in the wheelchair. "You have a point."

"She's at least two floors down, directly below us. We should be good."

Marik nodded. "So tell me, why do they want the items so badly?"

Kari'na opened her eyes. "Ganan'ji sells artefacts at auctions around the globe. When he caught wind of the potential pricing of the whole set, he sent us to go find them."

"But why did you disguise yourself as Shay?" asked Bakura.

"Doppelganger strategy is our specialty. One gathers information while the other collects the items. We were just lucky when we found the ring. Shay was at the pool that day and saw you walk in wearing it. She got her friend Michael to follow you in and watch carefully as you opened your locker. He got it out no problem."

"Then why did it smell like flowers in there?" Bakura asked.

"Michael and Shay are very close. Shay works with freesia a lot when she makes her own mixes, like the stuff that I put in your water, Bakura," Kari'na explained. "She told me to do so if ever I felt you were getting too close to the truth. It wipes away up to five minutes of memory. I wanted you to forget I ever mentioned the Millennium Ring. I tried to make up a story about how I used to own it, but I was slipping up too much, so I panicked."

There was a sound from one of the stalls. Marik looked to Kari'na.

"I still sense the items downstairs," she said.

Bakura walked slowly toward the noise. As he got closer, whatever was making the noise stopped. He moved more slowly.

"Who's there?" he asked. "Come out. We won't hurt you. You're safe."

The lock on one of the stall doors clicked open. He approached it cautiously.

"Hello?"

Bakura was hit so suddenly that he couldn't even tell what had happened. His head collided with the floor, and for a moment, he could see nothing.

"Bakura!" yelled Kari'na. "It's her! Look out!"

Bakura rolled out of the way just in time to dodge a descending heel. He knew he had to get up, but his head was spinning. He opened his eyes and saw that he recognized his attacker.

"Shay?"

Shay grabbed him by the wrists and pulled his arms behind his back. Marik lifted the Millennium Rod, aiming it at Shay, but someone grabbed his arm. He turned to see Ganan'ji.

"I don't think so, boy," he growled.

"No!" yelled Kari'na. "Let him go!"

She aimed a kick at Ganan'ji, who simply grabbed her ankle. Her momentum caused her to fall on her butt.

"Now," laughed Ganan'ji. "Let's try that again."


	11. Couch

[Comin' up on the end, ladies and gents. Who's on whose side? Are you sure? We'll just have to see. Bonus points to anyone who catches the well-hidden (and unintentional) Pokémon reference. Send me a message if you think you found it. ^^ Note: (to clear up any confusion) Shay and Kari'na (my OCs which are based on characters from my own story "Tales of Exodus") are from a fictional village called Aqua'ni (though the name of this village is never mentioned in the fic) presumably, the island on which they live is somewhere in the south pacific, and is quite small. Their back-story, however, is completely different for the purposes of this fanfic.]

Kari'na picked herself off the ground, though she kept her distance from Ganan'ji. It was clear to Bakura that she was afraid of the man.

"Sorry, Kari'na," laughed Shay. "I replaced that sleep powder of yours with protein powder. I can't believe you didn't notice."

Bakura struggled against Shay's grip, but was rewarded with a kick in the back. She didn't have much of a hold on him, but he decided to bide his time.

"Get the rod, Ganan'ji," Shay ordered. Ganan'ji looked confused that she would be ordering him around, but complied anyway. He grabbed Marik's shirt and threw him out of the wheelchair. Obviously, Ganan'ji was stronger than he looked. Marik felt the rod being yanked out of his fingers.

Shay caught the rod as Ganan'ji tossed it to her. Bakura felt her grip loosen and took the opportunity to turn around and kick her square in the chest. She let go of him entirely and fell back. He was about to go for another hit, when he felt his muscles seize up.

Shay was holding the rod, pointing it at him. She smiled sweetly at him, involuntary tears of pain streaking her face. He was secretly glad that he'd at least done some damage.

"No hard feelings, Bakura," she said, and closed her eyes.

Bakura felt himself walking towards Ganan'ji. Ganan'ji looked just as confused as Bakura felt.

"Ganan'ji," Shay said, Bakura's voice echoing hers. "Let's discuss payment."

She was using the rod's power.

Ganan'ji frowned. "Not until you get the rest of the items. I want the whole set."

Bakura's face grinned. "Now, you see, I've grown tired of this game. I don't think I want to play anymore."

Bakura's fist grabbed Ganan'ji's collar. Ganan'ji remained unfazed, glaring down at Bakura. "Enlighten me, Miss Bari. What was this all about? I wouldn't want to bore you, now would I? Exactly what payment was it that you figured you could get from me?"

Kari'na gasped, obviously knowing something that no one else did. "Of course that was all you wanted all along, wasn't it?"

If Ganan'ji knew what they were talking about, he didn't show it. He merely continued to glare.

"Perhaps I can clear things up for you, father."

A young man was standing at the door. He had obviously snuck in during the confusion

Kari'na cringed, holding her arms as if they burned. Marik looked at her, then the man, the truth dawning on him.

"You were a decoy."

The young man ignored him and tossed Shay the puzzle and ring. She smiled at him sweetly.

"Thank you, dear," she said flirtatiously.

Marik wrinkled his nose a little at the gooey sweetness of her voice. "You got your boyfriend here to take the items, knowing that Kari'na would be able to sense them. That way she'd know you were here, but her guard would be down, because she thought you were on a different floor."

Ganan'ji made an impatient noise. "First I ever heard of this plan."

Shay bowed. "But of course. I also planned it so that it would land on the hospital's emergency lock-down drill. Alas, my plan would not have worked, were it not for you, Kari'na."

Marik turned on Kari'na, whose eyes had filled with tears.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I didn't want for this to happen, but they threatened to not feed me if I didn't help. I thought maybe giving you the Rod and the Eye might help, but…"

"Threatened to not feed you?" asked Marik. "Why would you need to get your food from him? Why not buy your own?"

Ganan'ji crossed his arms. "Because as my servant, she is not allowed to have her own currency, as is custom," he explained. "I bought her and her rebellious counterpart fair and square."

A deep rage built up in Bakura. He had a special anger in him towards people like Ganan'ji who saw others as lower than himself. He'd suffered that enough through the genocide of his village. He felt the rod's power loosening.

"I am tired of serving you." Shay frowned. "I wish to be free to go where I want, choose what I am to be, and…" she looked at Michael, "to marry whom I wish."

Ganan'ji's eyes grew wide. "No son of mine will ever marry a slave-girl!"

Bakura broke free of the rod's power and turned on Shay, wrenching the rod from her hands. Marik stood up from the floor, shaky, but able to walk. Bakura tossed him the Rod. Marik took one quick look at it, then put it in his belt loop.

"What are you doing?" asked Kari'na. "Use it on Ganan'ji!"

Marik smirked. "He's no match for me, nor is he a match for you or Shay."

Shay and Kari'na looked utterly shocked, as though this had never occurred to them. Bakura caught Marik's drift and continued.

"Back in your country, you had no control, did you?" he asked softly. "If you disobeyed, he had the law on his side, didn't he?"

Kari'na's eyes filled with tears. Shay kept her look of utter indifference, but something flickered below the surface.

He turned to Michael. "And without your father's permission, if you'd tried to be in any sort of relationship, she'd have been punished, no? And you couldn't bear that." Seeing that he was spot-on, Bakura smiled. "But you're free now, and you have been ever since you stepped foot in Japan. You can do all of the things you wanted to do."

Michael put his hand on Shay's shoulder.

"Stop it!" yelled Ganan'ji. "I won't allow it."

Marik looked down at him with a look of disgust. "You knew that they would not disobey you, even in Japan, because that's all they'd ever known. Too bad you didn't count on two things. First, that Bakura and I would interfere, and second…"he smiled at Shay and Michael, then turned to frown once again at Ganan'ji. "That your son is not the same greedy, arrogant pig that you are."

Bakura smirked. "You risked coming to a slave-free country to get the items. Looks like your plan backfired."

Ganan'ji glared first at him, then at the two girls, who seemed to be uncertain about whether to trust Marik and Bakura or not.

"You would have nowhere to go," he scoffed, but his voice was less certain now, bordering on desperate. "You'd be lost and all alone in such a big country."

"No," Marik said, "Unfortunately for you, Ganan'ji, I have room at my place. It'll be cramped, but it's better than living with you."

"THE LOCKDOWN IS NOW COMPLETE. THANK YOU FOR YOUR PARTICIPATION IN THIS DRILL."

Shay was the first to speak. "I am out, Ganan'ji."

Kari'na crossed her arms. "Me as well."

Ganan'ji frowned, trying to come up with an argument, but coming up with nothing. He turned to his son for assistance.

"Sorry, father. I'm out too."

Ganan'ji's face screwed up angrily at this. "Consider yourself disowned," he growled. He left, slamming the door behind him.

Marik slowly sank to the floor, exhausted. "That paralysis powder really did a number on me. It took all I had to keep standing."

Shay smiled half-heartedly. "It'll wear off in a few days. Good news is that you'll sleep better."

Marik did not seem amused.

"Did you really mean it when you said we could stay at your place?" asked Michael.

Marik shrugged. "Why not? So long as you don't mind sleeping on a couch or the smelly spare room bed…"

"Anything," Shay and Kari'na said in unison.

"So what about that nurse you knocked out?" asked Bakura.

Shay shook her head slowly. "I used the sleep powder to help her forget on my way up. That stuff's super effective. "She should have woken up by now."

"Well, I hope we never hear from Ganan'ji again," said Shay.

"I don't think we will," Marik assured her. "All's well that ends well."

At that moment, the door opened, and there was a piercing shriek.

"GET OUT GET OUT GET OUT!"

"We're still in the girl's bathroom." Bakura remarked observantly.

Marik sighed. "Ishizu, I can explain."


End file.
